We were also in Istanbul at the show last night and agree with most of the comments posted so far. We live in Turkey for 6 months of the year and were very interested to see how U2 would go down in Istanbul - a country where YouTube is banned by the way, despite being a 'secular' country!. Our first hurdle was getting there - our plane from Bodrum was delayed by 3 hours so our plans to be there all afternoon were scuppered and once we arrived in Istanbul we were concerned we would even miss Snow Patrol (who were brilliant). We got the light railway 2 stops to Yenibosnia where the public buses were laid on - and that part of it was done very well both there and back with a constant stream of buses in and out. However, the traffic on the road to the stadium was nearly at a standstill and it took ages to get there so although I'm sure 50,000 tickets were sold, I would agree with a previous post that some people would have turned back and others been very late. This would also explain why a huge amount of the crowd started leaving before the end - which as the stadium was only half full anyway was a huge shame - when you're trying to get a good atmosphere going in a huge half empty stadium and then streams of people leave early it is a bit deflating. Getting in the gates was the next hurdle – our queue was so long that people were still streaming in well in to the U2 set and lots of people will have completely missed Snow Patrol. The stadium was a mess - we tripped over bricks and other rubble and spent ages trying to work out how to actually get in. Once we finally got to the right place and slowly inched along in the long queue (in the rain!) we then had to go through security who took our bottles of water and sandwiches off us before letting us in (we were very miffed as we had just bought a huge bag of water and food, but it is probably our own fault for not reading the tickets which did state that you are not allowed to take your own food or drink inside!). . Luckily we got there in time for Snow Patrol and the rain stopped shortly before they came on. We were shocked at the amount of empty stands and seats, but presumed it was due to the traffic jams and long queues, so it was disappointing that by the time U2 came on the stadium was still half empty (but it does have 80,600 seats and that's without calculating the number who can stand on the pitch). Previous posts have already pointed out that the timing was bad for various reasons and also the average wage in Turkey is so low that many people would simply not be able to afford concert tickets, but it does detract from the atmosphere when there is so much empty space. On the plus side, we moved to a closed section and sat on the steps where we had plenty of room to dance and bop around and sing along at the top of our voices which was fun! We were at the far end of the stadium and had a full, unobstructed view of the claw and were absolutely blown away by the lighting and effects - it is breathtaking. However, because of the design of the stadium and it's vastness, there were some sound quality problems and at times Bono sounded like he was on helium! I think the set list was perfect for their first ever time in Turkey - choosing the best known songs made a lot of sense as Turkish fans would recognise them. Bono's short duet with Ömer Zülfü Livaneli was followed by Livaneli taking over the whole show for a while as the crowd really got behind him – it was very moving to hear them all sing, it was a unique moment. Livaneli was a very interesting choice for Bono to invite because apart from being a well known folk singer, he is also a prominent left wing and social-democrat politician and was a Turkish MP for one term..... in an opposing political party to the current ruling AK Party. It would tend to substantiate the previous post which ascertained that Bono knew full well that he would get and adverse reaction when he mentioned the politician which resulted in loud boos (another weird moment at a U2 concert!).... and in view of the fact that the referendum is on Sunday I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were Bono's way of drawing attention to the huge unrest in Turkey at the moment which is caused by mistrust of the pro-Islamic government. As a guest, he can't be seen to openly critisis them.... but I agree that he may well have been playing political chess..... or maybe he really had just mis-judged the crowd and how they would react, who knows! Politics aside, the 360 tour was absolutely amazing and to be there for U2s first ever gig in Turkey was quite special. However, because of the lack of fan base, empty stands, restless audience and the location of the stadium, we would like to go and see the show somewhere else just to experience that tingle when the whole crowd gets behind the band, the stadium is packed and the whole place really buzzes – so hopefully we will get to see them again where they have a well established fan base and a sold out stadium. I've just realised that I've been rambling on for ages so apologies for the length of this – I was only going to make a quick comment agreeing with previous posters, but we are still on such a high from the show that it is nice to find a forum where we can share the experience – most of our Turkish neighbours have never even heard of U2!! (ps one final comment - in the set list they missed out a 'snippet' - towards the end of Vertigo, Bono sang a verse from the Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks'!
Sorry to hear that Kevin. 
Sounds 
I remember months ago looking at Istanbul and thinking it was miles out of the city int he middle of nowhere. Why is there NO public transport? 
